Get Published Weekly Roundup: July 31, 2017

Welcome to the Get Published Weekly Roundup! In this week's GSF Roundup we highlight two agents who are now open to queries, notices of approaching writing and submission deadlines, highlights from the past week's Manuscript Wishlist, and a few more tidbits at the end, including our second week of gathering advice #StraightFromAnAgent (maybe a new weekly section of the Roundup??).

We'd love to hear your feedback. Please let us know what you think in the comments and if there are certain types of information you would like to see in the Roundup. Also feel free to tweet at us (@freelancingrads) with any ideas or questions. Have a great writing week!

Agents: New Hires & Promotions

**Now Accepting Queries**

Lauren Bieker, Intern at FinePrint Literary Management

Lauren Bieker has been serving as an intern and is now open to queries. She is seeking:

"She appreciates great storytelling and is a 'sucker' for outstanding writing and convincing characters.” She recently tweeted: "#MSWL badass female only western a la The Good Time Girls short film."Source Tweet

Submission Deadlines

Writers, you have from 33-147 hours:

What: Poetry reflecting Irish or Irish-American themes. The Donn Goodwin Prize is open to all, while the Joseph Gahagan Prize is open to Wisconsin residents only. The winner of each award will receive $100.

To Submit: Submission by post only (USPS Priority Mail Express is your friend, here!). For more information and submission guidelines, click here.

What: Win mentoring by an industry professional. Must submit a completed manuscript and query letter (synopsis and pitch recommended as well).

"Over the past six years, Pitch Wars has changed many lives. Countless authors have been matched with agents and even gone on to book deals and successful careers. We’re approaching 250 successes this year!"

Who: New and emerging writers—must not have published a novel or collection of any type.

What: Up to 4 poems (no more than 8 pages total) or 2 prose pieces (no more than 12 pages total). Winners receive a box of books, a jar of jam, $250, and publication in Winter Tangerine. Finalists receive $20 and publication.

"Send me stories that feel true. Emotionally, on a visceral level, true. I love characters. I want to laugh and I want quirks and I want my heart to break."

Seeking: Romance of all heat levels (including inspirational and category romance), women's fiction, mysteries, suspense, and thrillers. She's looking for books that celebrate diversity in all its forms. In no particular order, she'd especially love to see more books featuring Asian characters, adoption issues, the Amish, coroners and morticians, physically and emotionally tortured heroes, and women who kick ass.

How to submit: Jessica is accepting queries via online form, here. Click here for submissions guidelines on the company website.

Ejusdem Generis

I. Advice #StraightFromAnAgent

Check out Literaticast, a new podcast by Jennifer Laughran, Literary Agent at Andrea Brown Literary Agency, in which “a literary agent and her friends dish about writing and publishing books for children and young adults." To listen to the first three episodes online, click here, or for the link to subscribe on iTunes, click here. For a podcast that covers a wider range of categories and genres that has been broadcasting since last November, check out Manuscript Academy. Click here for more information and to subscribe through iTunes.

Here are a few #querytip Tweets from this past week:

"One of the biggest reasons I reject: not knowing your audience! If it's a MG story, it better be written for the MG audience." - @inthesestones, BookEnds. Source Tweet

"In your query, you don't need to tell the agent what their website and submission guidelines say. They already know. :)” - @RachelleGardner, Books and Such Literary Agency. Source Tweet

"I see many resubmissions with same opening pages and few changes. Instead, try reworking the scene. Use a fresh start to hook me." -@marchsoloway, Andrea Brown Literary Agency. Source Tweet

II. Free, Open Source, formatted eBooks in the Public Domain! Click here to start reading for free!

"Standard Ebooks takes ebooks from sources like Project Gutenberg, formats and typesets them using a carefully designed and professional-grade style guide, lightly modernizes them, fully proofreads and corrects them, and then builds them to take advantage of state-of-the-art eReader and browser technology."

III. "Analyzing the Gender Representation of 34,476 Comic Book Characters."

Finally, a little data for you (I promise the charts are pretty cool!): You'll learn the differences Amanda Shendruk found in male and female superpowers, the percentage of females that make up teams of superheroes, and a comparison of gendered, diminutive names (like girl v. boy). Click here to see the full analysis.

Grad Student Freelancers (GSF) is dedicated to helping authors take care of the details of the publication process. Part of the process includes sifting through huge amounts of information to find important news, events, and tips that can give you an edge in the publication process. Every week GSF will provide three lists of curated information focused on helping writers get published. Our goal is to gather what's important from the web in the past week, so you can focus more on your writing.

Archives

Archives

Kelly was indispensable in her organization and attention to detail with my book project for the University of Chicago. She had a large amount of material to review and manage, lots of sources to research and cite, and was able to tackle it all while needing very little guidance from me. Beyond that, she also compiled chapter abstracts and keywords, and went back through my work multiple times as changes were made. She was invaluable.

Jane Friedman, publishing consultant and former publisher of Writer's Digest

Kelly's tenacity in tracking down rights holders was exceptional. I'm convinced she is actually a detective.Glenn Kammen, Author

Christopher was exactly what I was looking for. He is a great biblical scholar of historical criticism who held my writing feet to the fire. The biggest surprise is how good he is as a straight-up editor. It's ironic that I like his red pen more than a few "professional" editors I've worked with. Perhaps all editors should be put through the mandatory rigor of grading students' papers for a few years, as well as writing their own papers for tough professors.Kevin Bader, writer